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Effects of divergent management practices on germinable seed bank composition and legume abundance in northern temperate pastures
Author
Lysandra Pyle
Edward Bork
Linda Hall
Publication Year
2013
Body

Legumes are an important component of pastures, improving forage productivity and quality by inputting biologically fixed nitrogen into the plant community, and lowering input costs. Management actions such as long-term or high intensity grazing, and broadleaf herbicide application for noxious weed control, can eliminate standing legume biomass. After legume removal, repopulating the community with legumes often occurs from volunteer establishment from the seed bank. Success of this establishment depends on a number of factors including micro-site availability, competition for light, and disturbance intensity. Our objective was to determine the presence and abundance of legume seeds, as well as the diversity and abundance of other competing species, in a standardized volume of soil sampled from 44 pastures. At each site 53 soil cores, 3.2 cm in diameter and 6 cm deep, were extracted 5 m apart in a W-shaped configuration. Management was determined by interviewing landowners to gather information on pasture age, planting history, fertilization regime, disturbance history including grazing, etc. Interview results were accompanied by a range health assessment. Cores from each pasture were bulked, placed in a greenhouse for 3 months, and emergent seedlings counted after positive identification. Here we present preliminary results of the seed bank profile from pastures of contrasting management histories sampled in 2012. Our ultimate goal is to use multivariate approaches to link seed bank composition of pastures to particular management regimes, and thereby identify which management practices may produce seed banks capable of facilitating legume re-establishment.

Language
eng
Additional Information
Lysandra Pyle, Edward Bork, Linda Hall --- University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada
Collection
SRM Annual Meeting Abstracts